CFPB News and Updates - 11/5/2012

CUNA Urges More Changes to the CFPB's Final International Remittance Transfers Regulation to Help Credit Unions

CFPB Launches College Credit Card Agreement Database

FHFA/CFPB Develop National Mortgage Database

CUNA Urges More Changes to the CFPB's Final International Remittance Transfers Regulation to Help Credit Unions
The Credit Union National Association's (CUNA) International Remittance Transfer Regulation Working Group met with Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray on October 18, 2012 to discuss continuing concerns about the agency’s final regulation on such transfers. A number of credit unions are concerned that they will be forced to stop offering these services or have to charge more for these transfers just because of the requirements of the final rule.

Following that meeting, CUNA and the Working Group put together recommendations to provide more meaningful relief to credit unions under the final rule. CFPB Director Cordray invited the memorandum, and provided the opportunity to reinforce concerns as well as practical solutions that will mitigate the impact of the rule on credit unions and their members. Click here for a copy of the memorandum and cover letter sent to Director Corday.

CFPB Launches College Credit Card Agreement Database
The CFPB has blogged about its recently released Annual Report to Congress on College Credit Card Agreements, and a newly launched database at which individual agreements can be read and reviewed. The report shows that the majority of college credit card agreements are between issuers and affiliated organizations such as fraternities, sororities, alumni associations, or foundations affiliated with or related to an institution of higher education.

The data show that from 2009-2011, the number of agreements, total number of accounts open at year-end, amount of payments by issuers to the university, and number of accounts opened during the year all declined. A subsidiary of Bank of America submitted 633 agreements, which represents nearly 80% of all agreements in effect during 2011. Several credit unions are also specifically mentioned in the report.

In other related credit card agreement news, in recent months the CFPB, working in connection with Pentagon Federal Credit Union, has released a prototype credit card disclosure and agreement that the CFPB is continuing to develop, For more information on the CFPB’s prototype credit card agreement and disclosures, click here.

FHFA/CFPB Develop National Mortgage Database
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced that the agency and the CFPB have agreed to create a National Mortgage Database. The new database will be the first comprehensive repository of detailed mortgage loan information; the database will be used primarily to support the agencies’ policymaking and research efforts and to assist regulators in better understanding emerging mortgage and housing market trends.

The National Mortgage Database will include information which spans the life of a mortgage from origination through servicing and include a variety of borrower characteristics. The database will not, however, contain personally identifiable information, and the news release stated that the agencies will take appropriate precautions to ensure that individual consumers cannot be identified through the database or through any datasets that may be made available to researchers or the public.

Development is currently underway, and the agencies expect early versions of the full dataset to be complete in 2013. For a link to the FHFA’s news release, click here.